But then we got the message.
My Nanny, mum's mum, had been ill for a while, suffering from Dementia and we'd be debating whether and when to head back to Australia. It's a massive trip and hard to drag the kids from school and me from work. We'd had a chance to chat to Nanny over Skype and my family were keeping us updated.
The message we got on Monday was that she had taken a turn for the worse and they didn't expect her to last more than a few days. We made the decision quickly - we would race over. At 7am we checked flights, it was going to cost about $10,000 to get us all back. Fortunately work would cover the flight cost, but if we wanted to go now, we had to pay it up front initially. By 9am we had extended our credit limit and had flights booked. By 11:30 we were on the bus and at 2pm we flew out of Copenhagen to Adelaide via Dubai.
The flight from Copenhagen to Dubai took 6 hours and after a two hour delay in Dubai we started the 12 hour flight to Adelaide. Alana had her 12th birthday on the flight and the crew got her some chocolates from first-class, cake from business class and took photos of her wearing the captain's hat.
Some shots flying over Western Australia:
After the time change of about 10hours, we finally arrived in Adelaide at about 9:30pm Tuesday night. Unfortunately my Nanny passed away about 2 hours before we landed - it is hard being so far away, even taking the first flight we could, we were unable to make it in time.
That night we slept, we were all exhausted from travel. But the time-zone differences had other thoughts. We were awake every couple of hours and in the end, Kristine took the kids for a walk around the block at 6am.
When we were all eventually awake, showered and fed we headed out to my mum's place to catch her and my sister, as well as our nephew Brett and dog Oscar (who is staying with mum while we're in Sweden). We caught my dad for lunch and then I attended to funeral planning meeting, while Kris took the kids home to rest. We managed to get the funeral booked for Tuesday (we were planned to leave Wednesday) so we could attend.
We also ducked to the shops and I got to get an Aussie pie and chocolate milk, which I'd been missing in Sweden:
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| The pie |
Thursday, we started slowly, before heading to mums for the afternoon. That evening we headed to my rugby club to catch up with some friends.
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| Onka's grounds looked a little different to the snow-covered Malmo field |
Friday we headed to Tom's fiancee, Charlotte's. (I know he is only 8, but he and Charlotte have planned this for the last couple of years).
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| A familiar sign on the drive |
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| Charlotte and Tom |
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| Sunset over Glenelg Beach |
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| Glenelg |
Saturday started with a birthday party for one of our friend's sons and then shopping to pick up essentials like Vegemite, Milo and Cadbury chocolate. That evening we went to a friend's for dinner.
Sunday we were hosting a catch up for everyone that we hadn't had a chance to catch. But in a flashback to Malmo, it rained. Every other day had been sunny and over 30 degrees C, but Sunday it rained. We moved the party from the park to my Dad's house and eventually made it down to the park for a kick of the football when the rain stopped.
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| And we broke the football - hence Tom's stylish new hat |
Monday was a public holiday, so we had lunch with Kristine's parents and then caught up with some rugby friends.
On Tuesday we had the funeral for my Nanny, followed by the wake at my Aunty's house. The funeral was beautiful and while it was a sad occasion, it was a good chance to catch up with relatives and family friends we hadn't seen in ages. Nanny would have loved it.
After the wake we took a drive around the coast, past Aldinga Beach:
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| The coastal drive |
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| Aldinga Beach |
and then stopped at Thalassa playground for the kids to have a run around:
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| Thalassa |
Wednesday was our last day and so we did some last shopping before heading to the airport at 8pm. Once we checked our bags we caught up with my mum for some goodbyes and started the 24hr trek back home.
The flight from Adelaide to Dubai was one of the more interesting ones - firstly we were all tired and didn't sleep too well and Kristine's entertainment screen didn't work for the entire 12 hour flight. But that was only the start - there was also some of the worst turbulence I've experienced - nothing like that you see on the news or movies, but a few decent drops and sideways lurches that had some people swearing and groaning. But it was all capped off by a man who decided to pop eight sleeping tablets to help him sleep, staggered out of the toilets, threw up all over the kitchen area and then passed out. So while the plane was lurching and jumping the hostesses were cleaning up and monitoring his blood pressure and breathing. There was a bit of talk about us having to detour to Kuala Lumpur, but he stabilized and they put him in a gurney bed for the rest of the flight.
The rest of the trip was uneventful - we landed in Copenhagen at about midday on Thursday and caught the train and then bus back to Malmo. After dinner and some unpacking we ended up in bed around 7am, and I slept until 11 on Friday.
Back to work and school on Monday.
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